The present invention relates to an on-the-go mobile warning system for warning a user of an emergency event. More specifically, the mobile warning system displays a location of the emergency event relative to the location of the user.
There are well known systems for distributing information relating to severe weather or other emergency situations. For instance, in the United States, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Department of Commerce, provides NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). NWR is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information to a geographic area based on information from the closest National Weather Service office. NWR is capable of broadcasting National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts, and other weather hazard information 24-hours a day. NWR is also capable of broadcasting warnings and post-event information for all types of hazards, such as natural disasters including earthquakes and volcanoes, or environmental disasters, such as chemical releases or oil spills.
NWR requires a special radio receiver or scanner capable of picking up the signal broadcast by NWR. It is possible for an ordinary consumer to purchase a receiver capable of receiving the NWR alerts, often called a “weather radio.” Such weather radios can be purchased at a variety of electronic merchants, and are often sold in boat and marine accessory businesses, due to their popularity in the marine community.
NWR includes more than 750 transmitters, covering all 50 states, and adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, aid the U.S. Pacific Territories. A weather radio can be programmed to receive information specific to the specific geographic location in which the listener lives, or in which the weather radio is located. To allow for this, the National Weather Service has developed a Specific Area Message Encoder (SAME) feature. After a consumer has bought a weather radio compatible with the NWR SAME system, the consumer must program his or her county, parish, or independent city into the weather radio. After doing so, the NWR receiver will then alert the consumer only of weather or other emergencies for the county or location programmed.
Programming the NWR receiver involves several steps. In particular, the consumer must know a six-digit SAME code number for the consumer's county or location of choice. This number must be obtained either via a 1-888 telephone number and voice menu, or online by navigating an extensive, eight column United States and Territories table. Thus, to program a weather radio so that it only receives the information desired, a consumer must be able to navigate a complex system of technical and geographic information.
Though some automobiles are equipped with radios capable of receiving NWR broadcasts, the NWR receiver is not particularly suited for long distance travel. In particular, the NWR receiver must be reprogrammed at each new county so that it is configured to receive the correct SAME signal. As such, the weather radio system is not very mobile or portable.
More specifically, the shortcomings of the weather radio system become apparent when one considers taking a cross-country trip. For instance, when driving through an unfamiliar state, a conventional or weather radio may notify a driver of a weather emergency, such as a tornado. The radio may likewise indicate the current location of the tornado, and may further indicate the direction in which the tornado is traveling. However, if the driver is unfamiliar with the geographic location through which the driver is passing, such broadcasted information may be of little use. For instance, a driver may be notified of tornado located two miles east of a given town. If the driver is unfamiliar with the geography and merely continues to travel along the highway, the driver may be surprised to encounter what is obviously the path of the tornado only five miles down the road.
Though there are other mobile systems, particularly made available for use in automobiles, such mobile systems remain inadequate to provide the amount of information possible from an NWR receiver. Some cars may be equipped with an on board emergency service which allows a driver to press a button and be connected to an operator. In such systems, nothing is broadcast to the driver of the automobile, and thus the driver is not notified of emergency situations in the area. Rather, the driver only has the capability of calling out, or connecting to a remote operator in cases of emergency or when seeking information about an emergency event.
Similarly, there are navigation systems available for cars and other vehicles, such as boats. Such navigation systems may be able to provide a driver or operator with information regarding the location of the vehicle. However, such navigation systems typically do not broadcast alerts to notify the driver or operator of severe weather or other dangerous or emergency situations.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a mobile system capable of connecting to a regional broadcast system, such as NWR SAME, to provide a portable emergency alert radio system. Further, there is a need in the art for a weather radio capable of automatically updating the radio receiver to receive SAME data as the radio travels across boundaries of such broadcast areas.